Association Management · Issue 49 · 15 June 2026

Start the year with a board calendar, not a board wish list

A board that plans its year in January is a board that stops firefighting in July.

Most boards start the year with good intentions and no calendar. By March, everything is reactive — a special meeting here, a rushed paper there. It doesn't have to be this way.

A proper annual board calendar maps every meeting to a purpose: when strategy gets reviewed, when the budget is set, when the CEO is formally assessed, when governance itself gets audited. It's not exciting work, but it's the difference between a board that leads and one that just attends.

The test is simple: could a new director read your board calendar and know exactly what the year holds, without asking? If not, it's not a calendar — it's a list of dates.

Build it once, properly, and every meeting afterward gets easier.

Explore Association Management

Free first step: the the board calendar template.

With respect,
Annie

More from Nexus Association Management →

Never miss an edition

Get the weekly reflection in your inbox.

Choose your edition — Association, Business or Practice. Unsubscribe anytime.